Equal Opportunity My Foot...

So I go to the tailor’s the other day. I pull out all these random clothes that need sewing or hemming, or fixing, or whatever. I then sit for a bit and chat with the grandmother and her daughter (the tailor’s sister).

She tells me that one reason people want to go to America is for better salaries (uhh, sure, unless you end up working in WalMart...) and worker’s rights. As it is now, if she gets married, she’s likely to get fired (or rather, “asked” to resign) because they know she will want to take off for the wedding/honeymoon, and then she’ll probably get pregnant right away and then want to take off again, so they figure they might as well fire her and get another single girl who will be lower maintenance.

It reminded me of a brother here who was trying to get a job and would be asked things like, “so do you have kids?...ohh? how many?” when potential employers found out that he had two small kids, they quickly told him thanks, but no thanks. Likewise in Mecca Mall one of the stores has been advertising for a “sales girl.”

Employers will often times indicate subtly or not-so subtly that they want someone younger, or male, or female, or unmarried, or whatever the case may be.

It’s one thing that we do take for granted in the states... basic employee’s rights and a general sense of equal opportunity employment (I know there still exist a lot of problems for non-whites and women, but it’s nothing like here).

Yet on a somewhat related note, Jordan is probably one of the few Muslim countries that has special ed programs for kids in government schools. How good the programs are, I can’t say. Yet that they actually exist is somewhat amazing...I didn’t expect it at all. Maybe an inferiority complex again, no?

When I mention to my neighbor my surprise when I find out about things like this, she always tells me, “Of course, we’re so advanced here in Jordan! What do you think???” Not that I thought that this was like a backwards desert or something, but then again, I had no idea what level of development to expect. My neighbor always then uses this issue to try and convince me: “See, this is why you should just stay here...where are you going to get good people and a comfortable living standard in one place? Plus the peace of Kharabsheh...doesn’t it make you want to stay?”

Ya rayt, ya habibti, ya rayt... با ريت يا حبيبتي يا ريت

If only, if only.... but while wishes remain, life must move on. Yet maybe it’s winds will blow me hither once again...